Mansfield, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Mansfield, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Mansfield lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Mansfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mansfield — the short answer
Mansfield, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- De Soto Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- De Soto Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- De Soto Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are De Soto Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Mansfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mansfield's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mansfield
Each reading below is measured for Mansfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMansfield runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from De Soto Parish, the closest normal to Mansfield) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMansfield sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Mansfield is in
Mansfield sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mansfield's own centroid rather than borrowed from De Soto Parish.
What Grows in Mansfield
Every plant below cleared Mansfield's own zone 8b and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mansfield?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Mansfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mansfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- POLK ST TEXACOBrownfields · 900 ft
- Wag-A-Bag - Johuka & Sons IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Polk Street TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Northwest LA FertilizerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Brookshire Grocery Co #91Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Mansfield Auto World IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CarnahansUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Shelby's 66Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Off Road & Performance IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- OFF ROAD AND PERFORMANCE INCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- MANSFIELD KAR KARE INCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- AUTOZONE 3029Brownfields · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mansfield's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Mansfield.
Total Sites
197
within ~10 miles of Mansfield
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mansfield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mansfield
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mansfield, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 82 sites within ~10 miles of Mansfield. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Mansfield
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mansfield average
Your land is one point inside Mansfield
Everything above resolves to Mansfield as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from De Soto Parish’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Mansfield Average
Mansfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Mansfield
- ●One soil character for all of Mansfield
- ●Frost dates read at Mansfield's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mansfield's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mansfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mansfield, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mansfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mansfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mansfield average
How we know this about Mansfield
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at De Soto Parish’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Mansfield
When does frost risk typically end in Mansfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mansfield typically lands around Feb 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 14.
When is the first frost in Mansfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mansfield typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mansfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mansfield sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 16, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mansfield?
The federal record around Mansfield shows 197 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (82), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Mansfield?
From about Oct 31 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mansfield's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mansfield's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Mansfield’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mansfield's own scale — the 2,337 acres it covers and 197 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mansfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 197 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mansfield, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mansfield's boundary and the 2,337 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mansfield's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mansfield has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom De Soto Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mansfield's 2,337 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom De Soto County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom De Soto County
- The growing challenges every Louisiana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Louisiana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom De Soto County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mansfield's 2,337 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mansfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,337 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Mansfield-wide figureread your own land →
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